Daxia is located on the north bank of Hongchuan. Their people are martial and their soldiers are strong. Since their ancestors, they have lived a nomadic life following the water and grass.
The first long bell of the morning rang, the sound was distant, mighty and majestic. The city gate slowly opened with the sound of the bell, the sun shone brightly, and a new day in Zhenhuang City slowly began under the iron-blooded order of the empire.
"drive!"
A clear and sharp voice suddenly sounded, and a black horse raised its snow-white hooves and stepped on the snow outside Zhenhuang City. Snowflakes flew, and the hooves sounded clanging, leaving more than a dozen followers far behind.
"Prince Yan, you are late!" Zhuge Huai laughed, rode his horse forward, and said to the newcomer with a smile.
Standing next to him were four young men, the youngest was only eleven or twelve years old, and the oldest was no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. All of them were dressed in gorgeous brocade clothes, surrounded by followers behind them, with handsome faces and extraordinary bearing. Hearing his voice, everyone turned around and looked towards the person who came.
Yan Xun reined in his horse and sighed. The horse stood up, neighed loudly, and then stopped steadily on the snow field. Yan Xun was wearing a sky-blue robe with a few koi fish woven with gold and silver threads embroidered on the tail of his robe. He was wearing a snow-white long fur coat. He laughed and said, "When I received the news from Brother Zhuge, the Eighth Princess was at home. It was really difficult for her to get away. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." His voice was bright and his smile was full of the youthful vigor. Only his eyes were half-squinted, revealing a restrained edge. He had a silver sable scarf around his neck, which made him look even more elegant and suave. Yan Xun was only thirteen or fourteen years old, but he looked elegant and graceful beyond his age.
"So the beauty has an appointment. It seems we have disturbed Prince Yan's interest." A young man in a pine green brocade robe came forward. His voice was still soft and childish. He looked no more than twelve or thirteen years old. His eyes were curved like a fox, and he said with a smile.
Yan Xun smiled faintly and said in a neither soft nor hard tone: "Second Young Master Wei, you are joking. If it weren't for you who caused me to break the princess's glass cup at the state banquet the other day, I wouldn't have such a lucky break today. In fact, everything is thanks to you."
The young master smiled quietly, not getting angry. He turned around and said to another young man in a dark blue robe, "See, Mu Yun, I told you that Prince Yan would not let it go and would definitely argue with me about this."
Mu Yun raised his eyebrows slightly, "Are there not many people in this imperial city who have suffered from you? Prince Yan has a good temper. If it were me, I would have come to your house the night before yesterday to kill you."
"Are you still going to compete or not? If you want to chat, you might as well go back!" A young man in a black brocade robe came forward. On his waist hung a large bright yellow bow, which was obviously an imperial item.
Yan Xun seemed to have just noticed him at this moment. He jumped off his horse and bowed respectfully, saying, "So, His Highness the Seventh Prince is here too. Please forgive me for my poor eyesight just now."
Zhao Che glanced at Yan Xun with his eyes slanted, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, even if it was a greeting, he said directly to Zhuge Huai: "My eighth brother and I have to go to the Shangshufang for dinner, so we don't have that much free time."
Zhuge Huai smiled and said, "Since Prince Yan is here, let's get started."
Young Master Wei clapped his hands and smiled, "What new thing have you found? Show it to me."
Zhao Jue said, "I see a bunch of animal cages have been transported over there. Are you looking for us to come and hunt? That's meaningless. No wonder your fourth son refused to come."
Zhuge Huai shook his head and said mysteriously: "With his awkward temper, when has he ever come to our gathering? But I put a lot of thought into this today, just wait and see." After he said that, he stretched out his hands and clapped twice gently. The crisp sound echoed far away on the pale snow.
The empty enclosure surrounded by fences in the distance was opened, and Zhuge Huai's followers pushed six large carriages into the enclosure. Six huge cages were lined up in a row on the open ground, covered with black cloth, so that no one could see what was inside.
Young Master Wei said with interest, "What's in it? Zhuge, don't keep us in suspense."
Zhuge Huai smiled and waved to his followers in the distance. With a swish, the black cloth was pulled off. Young Master Wei exclaimed, was slightly stunned, and then laughed happily.
I saw that the huge cages were filled with a group of girls who were no more than seven or eight years old. There were twenty people in each cage. Everyone wore only a coarse cloth jacket with big words written on their chests like prisoners. The words in each cage were different. There were Mu, Wei, Yan, Zhuge, and Zhao Che and Zhao Jue were distinguished by the words "Che" and "Jue". The group of children had been locked in a dark cage for a long time. When they suddenly saw the light, they covered their eyes and huddled together in panic like a group of timid rabbits.
Zhuge Huai smiled and said, "A while ago, a group of Hu merchants from the Western Regions came to our mansion. They taught me this game. Later, I will ask people to remove the cages and release the wolves in the cages. Those beasts have been hungry for three days and their eyes are red. We can shoot the beasts, or we can shoot the slaves in other people's cages. After one stick of incense, whoever has the most slaves left will be the winner."
Young Master Wei laughed and clapped his hands first, saying, "It's really interesting and fun."
Zhuge Huai said, "Let's begin. Each of you has thirty arrows. Open the cages."
The servants received orders to remove the cages and leave the enclosure. The children stood there trembling, as if they were still trapped in a cage and dared not move.
Suddenly, there was a loud roar, and the gates on both sides of the fence were opened. More than 20 ferocious wolves rushed into the enclosure, opened their bloody mouths, and rushed towards the children, roaring!
A huge cry of surprise suddenly rang out, and children aged seven or eight screamed in unison, gathered together in panic, and ran towards the direction where someone was standing. At the same time, sharp arrows outside the fence rushed violently into the fence. However, their destination was not those ferocious wolves, but the children who were running towards them.
A strong smell of blood rose into the sky, and shrill screams and wails hit the sky. Sharp arrows pierced the children's thin shoulder blades, chest and abdomen. Blood gushed out, and bright red flowers bloomed on their thin bodies. The wolves were stimulated by the smell of blood and became even more ferocious and powerful. A wild wolf with a dark blue body jumped up quickly and bit off a child's neck. Before the child could utter a scream, one of his thighs was torn off by another wolf and his head was also bitten. The white brain matter and blood mixed together and splattered out onto the snow-white ground!
The screams were incessant, the pain in her shoulders was unbearable, her eyelids felt heavy as if they were boulders, and Jing Yue'er's small body was pierced by the sharp arrow and nailed to the ground. Her breathing gradually became weaker, as if she was dead, but her brows were tightly furrowed, getting tighter and tighter. A ferocious wolf slowly approached, staring at the child with its eyes flashing with murderous intent. Its smelly saliva became longer and longer, and dripped on the child's cheek with a "pa" sound.
It seemed as if the eyes of God were watching the tragedy in the underworld. At the moment the wolf's mouth fell, the child's eyes suddenly opened, as sharp as a knife. Without any timidity or weakness that a child should have, he almost instinctively stretched out his hands, grabbed the wolf's upper and lower jaws, then raised his head, bit the wolf's outstretched tongue, and tore it hard!
A sharp cry suddenly sounded, and everyone turned to look at the child with fierce eyes biting the wolf's tongue. In their astonishment, they even forgot to shoot arrows.
Zhao Che was the first to react. When he saw the big "Che" character on the child's body, he burst into laughter, bent his bow, drew his arrow, and shot it at the wolf's throat with a whoosh.
The wolf wailed and fell to the ground. The tragedy in the paddock continued. The remaining wolves chased the other girls from behind. The ground was littered with torn bodies and broken limbs, and the ears were filled with heart-wrenching screams and cries.
Jing Yue'er stood up tremblingly, her eyes wide open in disbelief, as if petrified. Her small body was torn, her hair disheveled, her face pale and covered in blood. The cold wind blew, and she seemed like a weak blade of grass.
With a whoosh, a sharp arrow suddenly shot out. Jing Yue'er jumped back nimbly and avoided the fatal attack, but as she was small and weak, she was still shot in the calf by the sharp arrow, and blood flowed down.
Young Master Wei chuckled, continued to draw his arrow, and shot again.
Zhao Che raised his eyebrows, snorted coldly, bent his bow and drew his arrow, and with a whoosh, he broke the arrow of Young Master Wei.
The vicious wolf was following her like a shadow, and a foul smell immediately overwhelmed her. Jing Yue'er had no time to check her injured calf and ran towards Zhao Che.
This was the person who had saved her twice in such a short period of time. In a daze, she quickly chose the direction that was most beneficial to her.
However, just as she took two steps forward, a sharp arrow suddenly shot out and pierced her foot. The child was stunned and stopped, then raised his head, frowned, and looked at the black-robed boy riding on the maroon horse in confusion.
Zhao Che snorted contemptuously, glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and shot an arrow through the vest of another girl who was running.
The child was no more than five or six years old. He screamed and fell to the ground. The big word "Yan" on his back was stained red with blood and then quickly torn apart by the wolf.
Time goes by extremely fast and extremely slow. The child stood there, dazed. Suddenly, she pursed her lips and turned around quickly. She was very fast and her injured calf did not affect her body flexibility at all. A vicious wolf was chasing her from behind and pounced on her, but she managed to escape by a hair's breadth.
In the corner of the paddock there was a pile of sticks and weeds for feeding horses. The child picked up a stick and, without looking back, hit a sneaking wolf hard on the waist.